There has been a sharp uptick in Helium consumption (He3) and a relatively small amount of reserves (a byproduct of Natural Gas drilling). This price instabili

There has been a sharp uptick in Helium consumption (He3) and a relatively small amount of reserves (a byproduct of Natural Gas drilling). This price instability can't help things.[0] The US Military, on the other hand, has been increasing it's use of blimps for surveillance and data transmission/networking. These are useful in places were line of sight isn't available (mountains of Afghanistan, for instance) between radio/mobil cellular base stations. [1] That and rising into the jet stream is a sorta abrupt introduction into 200knot winds. It would be disarming for most 'comercial passengers'. [0] http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/student-voices/the_rise_and_fall_of http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/student-voices/the_rise_... [1] http://www.navysbir.com/n11_2/N112-169.htm http://www.navysbir.com/n11_2/N112-169.htm